Stoudemire will miss Game 3 after surgery
Stoudemire will miss Game 3 after surgery
NEW YORK — Amare Stoudemire’s difficult season may be over.
Stoudemire had a small muscle in his left hand repaired Tuesday and will not play for the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat on Thursday.
Stoudemire met with a hand specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, a day after he was badly cut when he punched the case surrounding a fire extinguisher after the Knicks’ 104-94 loss in Miami.
Stoudemire apologized on his Twitter account for the act, which leaves the Knicks without another key player as they try to rally from a 2-0 deficit. Jeremy Lin is still recovering from knee surgery, and Iman Shumpert is out for the season after tearing a knee ligament in Game 1.
“We all have done thing out of anger that we regret,” Stoudemire wrote. “That makes us human. Bad timing on my part. Sorry guys. This (too) shall pass.”
Source: Chandler wins defensive award
NEW YORK — Tyson Chandler has been voted the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year for his impact on the New York Knicks, a person with knowledge of the award said Tuesday.
The Knicks went from tied for 27th in the NBA in opponent points per game last season to 11th in their first season with Chandler at center. They trimmed 11 points off the 105.7 they yielded in 2010-11.
Chandler’s victory was first reported by Yahoo Sports.
Giants’ Affeldt out
with fluke knee injury
SAN FRANCISCO — Giants reliever Jeremy Affeldt has landed on the disabled list for a nonbaseball injury for the second time in less than eight months.
The left-hander sprained his right knee Saturday night when he reached out to catch his 4-year-old son, Walker, as the 60-pound boy jumped off the couch to hug his arriving father.
Affeldt said he heard a pop but didn’t think there was anything seriously wrong. Then he woke up at 4 a.m. Sunday with throbbing pain and headed to the ballpark a few hours later after icing the knee with a package of frozen vegetables. An MRI exam revealed the sprain for Affeldt, who last Sept. 8 sliced his nonthrowing hand nearly to the artery while separating frozen hamburgers.
Defending champ
upset in Munich
MUNICH — Colombian qualifier Robert Farah upset defending champion Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round of the BMW Open on Tuesday.
Sixth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, the 2010 champion, edged out Philipp Petzschner of Germany 7-5, 7-5, and eighth-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus outlasted Tobias Kamke of Germany 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 for his first clay-court win of the season.
Also advancing were Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ernests Gulbis, Dustin Brown, Matthias Bachinger, Potito Starace, Tommy Haas and Marinko Matosevic.
Montanes, Kirilenko advance at Estoril
OEIRAS, Portugal — Seventh-seeded Albert Montanes moved into the second round of the Estoril Open with a 6-2, 6-3 win Tuesday over Matthew Ebden of Australia.
The 69th-ranked Spaniard won despite squandering eight break points.
Eighth-seeded Flavio Cipolla of Italy ousted Argentine Diego Junqueira 6-1 6-4.
Top-seeded Juan del Potro, defending his title on clay in Portugal, has a first-round bye.
Second-seeded Maria Kirilenko advanced in the women’s event, overcoming Elena Baltacha 7-6 (6), 6-1. Third-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated qualifier Kristina Barrois 6-4. 6-1.
By wire sources